Summer Resort: Hiking

"Summer vacation has arrived for the Warriors of Light! Mountains exist so that man may climb them. Make your way to the summit for fame and glory! Fear the (tasty?) BBQ tonberries! ★Climb, climb, and climb some more!"

- In-game description

Summer Resort: Hiking a special event region from July 2018 -- the fourth part of the Summer Resort event series. It offers great prizes to the player that can endure these long and expensive fights.

Event Details

 * Event duration: July 13 – August 15, 2018
 * Event type: Special "Holiday" event region.

How to Participate

 * Select "Summer Resort: Hiking" from the world map -- found on the red "Specials" hub.
 * This event is only accessible after a player clears the Runic Temple in Chapter 1

Story
Sarah is on the beach, staring at the Sea again. Wol approaches and comments that she's finally relaxed. It's been an unforgettable summer.

...if a bit boring here, notes Wol. Sarah says that's what makes it so special: the calmness of it all. Wol asks if there's something more stimulating she'd like to do, and she says she would consider it if it's fun.

Off to the mountains we go, then! The hike is long, and strenuous, if uneventful.

At the top, Sarah has a question: why does Wol fight? What motivates him? Not dying is his initial answer, but that doesn't satisfy her. Everyone fears death, but few have the will to fight against it. Wol feels it's just a natural thing for him. But now Sarah is a fighter, too. What if fighting is something she learns to enjoy? Wol isn't worried, and says she's not the type to go down that path. But if she gets too fearful, she can just stop... and leave the fighting to him. Sarah will accept that.

Event Map
"Summer isn't just about alabaster beaches and pristine seas. Break out your bug spray and go for a hike!"

- World Map description

For those wanting a long, drawn-out battle, we have the region for you! Battles here are expensive, and have 10-16 rounds, so it will take a while to get through them. The fiends you'll encounter run practically the entire menagerie in the game -- they all show up at some point.

The map is divided between three branches: Novice, Veteran, and Master. Each path has the same number of areas, with the same stamina costs. However, there are two differences:
 * The higher-end paths have stronger enemies (of course).
 * Each path requires a fewer number of equipped ability cards: the Veteran path will only allow 3 cards (plus the Card Rental), while the Master path will only allow 2 cards to be equipped. This is true of both your main deck and your sub-deck. You can assault the areas in these paths with a full complement of cards, but the lock for the next area on the path will not open if you don't have the limitation in place when you win.

The first area "Hiking" offers a special card: the BBQ Tonberry. This is a multi-strike fire card, but can't Augment past ★4. Good for general use, I guess.

Station 1 will drop a single Summer Memories: Hiking (Card), which is useful in the multiplayer Melon Bomb Invades event, where it can remove one immunity from the Melon Bomb (Sicarius). Such use is limited, though, if it's not paired with Summer Memories: Diving (Card).

As you progress up the hill, you'll encounter the BBQ Tonberry, either with a pack of the usual fiends, or in a trio of his own. These guys get an initial attack of Karma: , based on whichever element you've been most using up to that point in the area. Besides damage, it will knock out your orbs in that color, demanding a different strategy to get past them. They also follow up with a Heated Knife attack, which locks that element out for one turn, FORCING you to use a different element. This isn't so impactful on the Novice path, but the Master path can be much harder with one of your only two abilities blocked! Be prepared, and don't focus on a particular element during the battle.

In rare circumstances, you may run into the Straw Gigantuar on the Summit areas. These folks play just like the regular Gigantuars (or maybe the Crystal Gigantuar), but have a high chance of dropping a, , or (in various elements).

As an extra item, every area in this region will drop a Memories Component, assigned to either Echo, Sarah, or Meia, depending on what Jobs you have equipped. The final event, Summer Resort: Diving, will open various areas with prizes for each Memories stack with over 50 pieces.

There are 25 areas in total, with only one treasure chest at the very beginning. All other prizes are from "story completion" rewards at the end of the paths.

Key Items

 * -- Gathered by playing with Wol on both main and sub-jobs.
 * -- Gathered by playing with Wol and Meia in your Jobs.
 * -- Gathered by playing with Wol and Sarah in your Jobs.

Fiends

 * Pretty much everything in the game, excluding Event-only fiends.
 * BBQ Tonberry
 * Straw Cactuar and its bigger cousin, the Straw Gigantuar

Reference

 * Mobius News page
 * mao_shiro's Summer Event Guide on Reddit